Inner Metro Area Jumbo Perch Report

Yep, I put those two phrases together for this report.”Inner Metro area” and “Jumbo Perch”,something you don’t hear to often. Although these fish aren’t Mille Lacs size hoggies by any means they are true monsters for inside the 694/494 loop of our metro lakes. Well here goes…..My first official ice report as I’m not a huge fan of the hard water.

These fish are definitely in pre- spawn mode as the females are fat as footballs and they are staging deep, close to spawning areas. The areas we have been targeting are the first soft bottom off steep gravel/hard bottom breaks. Basically the first mud off the edge of the harder bottom.

The action on this particular lake hasn’t been fast and furious but the size of these wandering perch has made up for it. Average size has been around 9 inches or so with a few nice ones showing up here and there. We’ve been setting up in about 20-22 feet of water and fishing right on the bottom or within a foot of bottom. Baits of choice have been everything from Diamond Jigs rigged with Eurolarvae to minnow heads on a larger jig to plastics. It seems like one bait is hot for an hour, then you’ve got to switch out to the next bait to get these finicky little buggers to actually commit. We have also noticed jigging right into the muck and disturbing the bottom seems to attract them more than jigging off the bottom. The zoom feature on the Marcums is a must for actually seeing the bottom couple inches of the water column and being able to tell whats going on down there.

I would assume this bite will stay consistent throughout the rest of the ice season. If you’re looking for a change from metro Sunnies and Crappies think about giving the perch a shot.. All I can say is take a look at the good ol’ DNR Lakefinder, see what lakes have a decent size average, and fish the deep mud close to hard bottom. GOOD LUCK!